7 Good Things for the Holidays:
1. Bahlsen's Contessa cookies. Candied orange, ginger spice, almond perfume, chocolate. With a cup of cinnamon-orange Christmas tea, late winter afternoon perfection.
2. Free (if you bring your own skates) ice skating to Glenn Miller swing at the seasonal ice rink in Bryant Park.
3. June Taylor's English Christmas cake. Bring me this luscious brandied fruitcake for Hanukkah, along with a tea table in front of a fireplace so as to enjoy it in the appropriate setting. And perhaps a maid wearing this to serve it.
4. Latkes, latkes, latkes. With sour cream and applesauce, borscht and rye bread and raisin pumpernickel from Orwasser's to make them a meal.
5. Roast chestnuts on the street. Hot-pretzel vendors used to add these to their wares in the winter, sending a distinctive smoky-sweet aroma into the chilly air. You paid a couple of bucks and you got a little paper bag shoveled full of warm roasted chestnuts, their skins half peeled back so you could get into the hot, mealy-sweet nuts without having to take off your gloves. In Bologna, it was common to find little old men roasting chestnuts over drums of coals in any public square during December. Lately, though, they've been all but replaced by those noxious sugary nuts. We're going to look hard on our way to the Bergdorf's windows, though.
6. Clementines.
7. Snow.
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4 comments:
Stephanie -- take a look at Shuna (eggbeater)'s post on Bahlsen Contessa. http://eggbeater.typepad.com/shuna/2007/11/bahlsen-cookies.html
Then for more fun, take a look at my old post on an interesting lebkuchen-related occurrence, here:
http://fingerineverypie.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/the_taste_of_th.html
I'm going to bake these with friends, the day after I see you in Manhattan -- we'll have to meet up again so I can give you some!
whoops -- that didn't work too well. Well, Shuna's post is recent on eggbeater -- it's called Bahlsen Cookies: Contessa, Please, and it's from November 26, 2007. My post is old, on A Finger In Every Pie. It's from March 4, 2007, and it's called The Taste of the Past. Anyway, check it out if you like.
You know, Shuna's post was my inspiration--I never think of those cookies until holiday time rolls around, and then I crave them! And I did read your post last March--it was a lovely piece. I love those stories of amazing cooking serendipity. Do let me know how the cookies come out on Sunday!!
Bahlsen´s cookies are the best! I am German BTW!
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